If we were having coffee – 31 October 2015

Long time no see! Come on in and join me for a cup of tea on this lovely day that is Halloween!

If we were having coffee, you’d probably want to know why I have not invited you over in a while, and why my blog had grown quiet for almost 2 whole weeks… I guess I owe you an explanation.

So two weeks ago, I was busy cleaning our storage closet that had been filled and never touched again since we moved in. It did take a lot of energy out of my day, so I didn’t join in the coffee share. Before that, I know my blog already grew quiet, and I have no real excuse for that, I blame my notebook, which I filled with words. I even have a post planned for tomorrow about the advantages of using a notebook. After my cleaning spree, I got sick with a horrible cold (which has not left me completely just yet), my mother in law arrived for a weeks stay, and I felt it to be impolite to use the computer. Lesson is learnt now, it might be a good idea to schedule some posts. Now I am hopefully back to blogging and being my creative self.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask you if I missed out on anything lately? I’d probably ask you if you would be up for a nice walk outside, the weather is absolutely marvellous. A crisp autumn day, just the way I like them. To be truthful, I’d be very happy to meet you outside, maybe to glance at the pegasus by the Berges de Seine? My apartment is once again a mess, half the kitchen is in the living room, we had new water pipes installed on Thursday (no more lead), it is not a pretty sight, as the new pipes are visible and using water makes a lot of noise. At the moment they are sawing in the staircase as new windows are being installed too (thankfully not in my apartment). On top of all that we had a water leak yesterday, but with plumbers already in the house, it was repaired quickly. I am looking forward to the day when the scaffolding will be gone, when there will be no more plumbers in the hallway and no one fitting new windows… Yesterday I even had to step over equipment from the guy repairing the fibreglass (I think the installation of the new plumbing had some negative effects).

Sorry about all my moaning… What are you up to today? Do you have anything special planned for Halloween? I am not celebrating Halloween this year, but I did so in the past. I am celebrating a bit, over at Suzie’s blog party. My sister is in Paris for the weekend, so I’ll see her a bit, I’d love for you guys to meet. She has a blogger blog, that well has been neglected, I’d love for her to move to wordpress as she does some great fashion blogging (and I believe the lack of support made her grow quiet) with some of her own creations on show, I even modelled once for her Star Wars themed design. S is leaving for London tomorrow morning, so it’s going to be an all girls week dedicated to a lot of writing…

I have signed up for NaNoWriMo, my username is SolveigJW (like on twitter) but I am stuck, what shall I write about? And what shall I write? A novel? A collection of short stories? I am so used to flash fiction that 50000 words is a lot… I guess all I have to do is sit down and write once tomorrow comes along, it tends to work out best.

That’s all (not really) but I cannot take up all your weekend. It’s time for you to head over to Diana’s blog Part-Time Monster and check out her coffee post and all of the others. Feel free to join us with your own Coffee/Tea post.

Good luck with Nanowrimo, I’m sure you’ll succeed. This will be my third year, last year I expanded upon a promising flash fiction story, that went well and this year I’ll be writing the sequel. I am a bit worried about if I’ll be able to keep blogging consistently.

Great to join you for coffee! I’d love to join you for a walk and then sip coffee in a nice cafe and people watch – isn’t that what mornings in Paris are supposed to be about? Good luck with your NaNoWriMo!

ah my dad does that, but I am still young and strapped for cash thus beverages are consumed at home…
I used to work in a restaurant that was all about people watch… to see and to be seen. I hope that it will work out, but I guess time will tell.

The next time I’m in Paris I’ll make sure I take you out for petit déjeuner at least once. In return you’ll have to point me to one of the “secret” parks you’ve found. Not that I have any plans in the next few years, but you never know.

Ugh, remodeling is from hell. We had to do both bathrooms in our new house. The master we did last winter, but we just did the guest bath and it was a nightmare. I had the huge box for the new water saving toilet siting in my living room for 2 WEEKS! I just kept vacuuming around it. I hope things get better for you soon.

I’m so glad you are doing NaNo! Trust me, it will work out. Just writing that many words in a month makes something magical happen. Ideas just start coming to you and you can’t shut them off. : )

It’s not choose in our case, the whole building is going through it and it is not fun at all!! They were a bit late when it came to the lead pipes (the deadline was December 2015). I just hope that the constant drilling, scraping and sawing will have an end and that I don’t wake up at 8am on Saturdays because someone is making a racket just outside my window (I am on the 5th floor…)
You tell me about homeowner’s joys…
I hope that NaNo will work out fine, I am just well not sure what to write about. I’ll be surprised tomorrow. 🙂

When you look at my blog it transpires spontaneous… Which is good but I like there to be a bit more regularity. For some reason I already have ideas for December but For November nothing is written…
I am an avid free-writer nothing better for creativity 🙂
Have a great Sunday!

Wow, what busy two weeks, Solveig. De-cluttering sounded great, getting cold not so much… I’m glad you signed up to NaNo. I’m wavering!!! I feel I should be editing my manuscript this month not writing a new one! The temptation is so strong though… We’ll see, there is still an hour or so to make up my mind 🙂 Have a great rest of the w/e.

I just feel they were filled with the wrong type of busyness… I still have to de litter the kitchen, but as I am home alone this week I am a bit more zen about it.
So did you sign up? Or are you going the editing route?
Have a great Sunday Gulara!

Thanks for the Coffee, Solveig. Am I correct that you live in Paris? In that case, I’d appreciate a few extras with my coffee. Firstly, I’d love a Nutella crepe from a road side vendor. Do they still have those in Paris? They I’d love a baguette with yummy cheese. In return, I’ll play my violin beside the River Seine and scare away the world. My daughter would love to meet your sister. She’s 9 and wants to be a fashion designer, although she seems to have quite a thing for acting and loves singing as well. She designed her own halloween outfit and did her own green face. I was quite impressed as I’ve never even attempted face painting.
Good luck with the writing. I might do it next year but November is a very busy time here as the end of the school year approaches and there are umpteen concerts and planning to do. xx Rowena

Thank you for joining me Rowena. Yes, I live in Paris and the street vendors still exist, you can buy a crepe in the nearby park too (my sister actually had one today). I have some really good compté in the fridge but for a good baguette I do not recommend Sunday’s as most good bakeries are closed then.
Instead of scaring away the world you might end up making a small income as a busker, who knows?
Ah that’s about the age when my sister started to be interested in sowing and things. Maybe one day I’ll do a proper introduction of her on my blog.
For the writing I most of all need my daughter to understand that I need some time to write, seen that she has a hard time grasping that I need to cook dinner and clean the apartment we will see how it goes.
I guess you are approaching the summer holidays then? Good luck with finishing both the year and school year. Have a good week!
Thanks, Solveig

You’re welcome Solveig. A Nutella crepe would be great this morning. I was in Byron Bay a few years ago and a group of French backpackers were selling crepes by the beach and doing a roaring trade. There’s a photo of them in this post: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2015/04/03/byron-bay-australias-alternative-paradise/
I stayed at the Hotel Henri IV for a month, which was fabulous, except I had a broken heart nad was writing poetry beside the River Seine until the early hours of the night. I think about it now and am a bit afraid of myself if that makes any sense. You do some crazy things when you’re young. I think we have about 6 weeks until the Christmas school holidays. My son will be going to Scout Jamboree for 10 days and then we plan to head to Tasmania for 2 weeks. Can’t wait. My husband is from Tasmania and we want to show the kids where Daddy is from. I hope you have a good week and good luck juggling the writing marathon with your daughter. xx Rowena

Oh those youthful scary things that we aren’t proud of afterwards…
I guess you will be writing about those trips. One day I will go to Australia, I am a big fan of Bruce Chatwin and discovered Australia through his eyes, so it is on my bucket list.
You know I tend to menace my Mother in Law with the “you shall take an airplane now while we are not too far away, because else your first flight will be to Australia once we move there” so who knows maybe life will take us there one day.
She has been nice all morning, and I managed to work a lot on my novel, but that’s also because the flow is there. Now it’s time to take a bit care of my blog too. I guess I am really committed to writing now 🙂

Good luck but so far so good! I haven’t read Bruce Chatwin but I might have him on the shelf. To be honest, I’ve lost track of what’s there now.
We arrived in Paris the day before Bastille Day and I woke up to military planes flying overhead and the noise was incredible There were understandibly people everywhere so it was quite overwhelming. I’ve caught the Indian Pacific train from Sydney to Perth and I was hankering after all that space. I’d love to go back to Paris with my family. My daughter is desperate to go. Her name starts with A and I bought her some diamante earrings in the shape of the Eiffel Tower which look like the letter A. She was stoked.

I once woke by the sound of planes flying overhead, jet lagged I had no idea what was going on, turning on the to reassured me that I was not in a country under attack.
I have to remember that present idea as my daughter starts with an A too.

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